Good morning, you gorgeous lot.
Today’s foray into the world of fantasy baking is a perfect example of how sometimes the muse will appear and guide the imaginary baker’s hand. I was getting ahead of myself last week and sat down to write my Monday blog post on Friday afternoon – a radical idea, I know.
I sat at my keyboard and I wondered who should be the subject of my Monday blog post. There are always a few ideas running around my brain at any one time and nailing them down can be tricky. There are even a few half-written drafts floating around should I need them. Then I received a message on Twitter from my Mum. The message read:
Did you see this? What a mensch Nick Cave is Xx
And the link was to a tweet from journalist Jack Seale, which you may have seen. It was doing the rounds on Friday and I dare say will have continued to do so over the weekend.
Nick Cave took the time to respond to a 10 year old fan in the best way possible. Read this…
Aside from my initial reaction that more children should have cool names like Ptolemy and those of various characters from The Iliad and The Odyssey, I just cannot get over how amazing this response is. I well up again to read it.
I believe that people (and children especially) have limitless potential if encouraged to believe so and the fact that Nick Cave took the time to craft this incredible and characteristically poetic response makes me want to bake him a cake so much. I can think of no better word to describe him than that which was selected by my Mother; Nick Cave is a mensch.
In Episode One of my new podcast Fantasy Bakes, I talked about the amazing advice given to me by someone I look up to very much: Nigella Lawson. Her words spurred me on, they lifted me up when all felt rather impossible, her advice was sound and it helped me.
If you are in the public eye there will be so many looking to your example. Using that power for good is a wonderful thing.
So I would love to bake a cake for Nick Cave to say thank you to him for being a spirit guide for his fans, who would have doubtless been thrilled even with a stock signed photograph. I was planning to share the letter that he wrote to a fan on the subject of grief here but it is liable to break your heart in seven different places and I don’t want to do that today. Suffice it to say that Nick Cave writes beautiful advice to all of his fans when they need him.
I cannot wait to see what young Ptolemy goes on to do with this advice. A friend told me recently that advice is only as good as its application so all eyes on you now, Ptolemy. We are expecting big things from you, whatever you choose to do with your secret knowledge and its special power. I for one believe that you’ll be brilliant.
Stay gorgeous!
Cxx
